UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC

Issued by the Department of Transportation on September 18 , 2013

NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN

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_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________ This serves as notice to the public of the action described below, taken by the Department

official indicated (no additional confir ming order will be issued in this matter).

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Joint Application of UNITED AIR LINES, INC

. (United) and AIR CHINA LIMITED (Air

China) filed 8/27/13 for:

XX Renewed and a mended exemption for Air China un der 49 U.S.C. 40109 to provide the

following service:

Scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail, in combination or

separately, between points in the United States and points in third countries pursuant to its

code share with Unit ed. 1

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XX Amended statement of authorization for United under CFR Part 212 to:

Display the “CA” designator code of Air China to now include flights operated by United

between Air China’s United States gateways, on the one hand, and beyond to points in

third countries solely on a blind sector basis. 2 3

Applicant rep resentative s:

Daniel A. Weiss ( 872 ) 825

- 6828 ( United) and

G eorge N. T ompkins, Jr. (212) 915

- 5624 ( Air China)

DOT Analyst: Darren Jaffe (202) 366

- 2512

1 Air China’s existing exemption authority permits it to enga ge in s cheduled foreign air transportation of persons,

property, and mail, in combination or separately, between any points or points in the People’s Republic of China,

and any point or points in the United States, pursuant to its code

- share arrangements w ith United Air Lines, Inc. in

DOT

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. We note that Air China

also had pending in th e above referenced D ocket s an exemption renewal application dated November 30, 2009 . W e

are address ing both its renewal and amendment applications in our present action.

2 Additional code

- share points are listed in Appendix C.

3 We note that the City of Hou ston, Texas, through the Department of Aviation, submitted a letter in support of the

Joint App lication in Docket DOT

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.D I S P O S I T I O N

XX Granted

, renewed and amended exemption authority for Air China (subject to

conditions, see Attachment A below).

XX Granted

, amended statement of authorization for United ( subject to conditions, see

Attachment B below)

.

The above action g ranting renewed and amended exemption authority for Air China was effective

when taken: September 18

, 20 13

, t h rou g h September 18

, 20 14

.

The above action amending the statement of authorization granted for United was effective when

taken: September 18 , 20 13

, and will remain in effect indefinitely, subject to the conditions

listed below.

Action taken by: Paul L. Gretch, Director

Office of International Aviation

XX The authority granted is consistent with the Air Transport Agreement, as amend ed

, between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.

Except to the extent exempted or waived, this authority is subject to the terms, conditions, and

limitations indicated:

XX United’s certificates of public convenience and necessity

XX Foreign Air Carrier Exemption Conditions for Air China

XX Statement s of Authorization approving the United/Air China code

- share

operations dated October 24, 2003 and conditions therein ( see Notice of Action

Taken in Docket DOT

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- 16213 )

__________________________________________________________________________

On the basis of data officially noticeable under Rule 24(g) of the Depar t ment ’ s regulations,

we found the applicant qu a lified to provide the servic e s authorized.

Under author i ty assigned by the Department in its regulations, 14 CFR Part 385, we found th at

(1) our action was c o nsistent with Department policy; (2) g ra n t of the au th ori t y was consistent

with the public interest; and (3) grant of th e authori t y w ould not con s titute a major regulat o r y

action under the Energy Policy and C onservation Act of 1975. To the extent not granted, we

denied all requests in the referenced Docket s

. We may amend, m odif y

, or r e voke the aut h ori t y

granted in this Notice at any ti m e without hear i ng at our discretion

.

Persons entitled to petition the Department for review of the action set forth in this Notice under

the Depar t ment’s regulations, 14 CFR §385.30, m ay file t h eir petitions wit h in seven (7) d a y s

after the date of issuance of this Notice. This action was e ffective w h en taken, and t h e filing of a

petition for r e view will not alter such effectivene ss

.

An electronic version of this document is available on the World Wide Web at:

http://dms.dot.g ov//reports/reports_aviation.aspAttachment A

Foreign Carrier Exemption Conditions

In the conduct of the operations authorized, the foreign carrier applicant(s) shall:

(1) Not conduct any operations unless it holds a currently effective authorization f rom its homeland for such

operations, and it has filed a copy of such authorization with the Department;

(2) Comply with all applicable requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security

Administration, and with all applicab le U.S. Government requirements concerning security, including, but not limited

to, 14 CFR Parts 129, 91, and 36 and 49 CFR Part 1546 or 1550, as applicable. To assure compliance with all

applicable U.S. Government requirements concerning security, the hol der shall, before commencing any new service

(including charter flights) from a foreign airport that would be the holder’s last point of departure for the United States,

contact its International Industry Representative (IIR) (formerly referred to as Inter national Principal Security

Inspector) to advise the IIR of its plans and to find out whether the Transportation Security Administration has

determined that security is adequate to allow such airport(s) to be served;

(3) Comply with the requirements for minimum insurance coverage contained in 14 CFR Part 205, and, prior to the

commencement of any operations under this authority, file evidence of such coverage, in the form of a completed OST

Form 6411, with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Program Man agement Branch (AFS

- 260), Flight Standards

Service (any changes to, or termination of, insurance also shall be filed with that office);

(4) Not operate aircraft under this authority unless it complies with operational safety requirements at least equival ent

to Annex 6 of the Chicago Convention;

(5) Conform to the airworthiness and airman competency requirements of its Government for international air

services;

(6) Except as specifically exempted or otherwise provided for in a Department Order, comply with the requirements

of 14 CFR Part 203, concerning waiver of Warsaw Convention liability limits and defenses;

(7) Agree that operations under this authority constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity, for the purposes of 28 U.S.C.

1605(a), but only with respect to those actions or proceedings instituted against it in any court or other tribunal in the

United States that are: (a) based on its operations in international air transportation that, according to the contract of

carriage, include a point in th e United States as a point of origin, point of destination, or agreed stopping place, or for

which the contract of carriage was purchased in the United States; or (b) based on a claim under any international

agreement or treaty cognizable in any court or other tribunal of the United States. In this condition, the term

"international air transportation" means "international transportation" as defined by the Warsaw Convention, except

that all States shall be considered to be High Contracting Parties for the purpose of this definition;

(8) Except as specifically authorized by the Department, originate or terminate all flights to/from the United States in

its homeland ;

(9) Comply with the requirements of 14 CFR Part 217, concerning the reporting of schedu led, nonscheduled, and

charter data;

(10) If charter operations are authorized, except as otherwise provided in the applicable aviation agreement, comply

with the Department's rules governing charters (including 14 CFR Parts 212 and 380); and

(11) Comply with such other reasonable terms, conditions, and limitations required by the public interest as may be

prescribed by the Department, with all applicable orders or regulations of other U.S. agencies and courts, and with all

applicable laws of the United S tates.

This authority shall not be effective during any period when the holder is not in compliance with the conditions

imposed above. Moreover, this authority cannot be sold or otherwise transferred without explicit Department approval

under Title 49 of the U.S. Code.

12/2007A ttachment B

The statement s of authorization , as amended, are subject to the following conditions: 4

(a) The statements of authorization will remain in effect only as long as (i) United and Air China

continue to hold the necessary underlying authority to operate the code

- share services at issue, and (ii) the

code

- share agreement providing for the code

- share operations remains in effect.

(b) United and/or Air China must promptly notify the Department (Office of Internatio nal Aviation) if

the code

- share agreement providing for the code

- share operations is no longer effective or if the carriers

decide to cease operating all or a portion of the approved code

- share services. Such notices should be

filed in Docket OST

- 2003

- 1621 3. 5

(c) United and/or Air China must notify the Department no later than 30 days before they begin any

new code

- share service under the code

- share services authorized here. Such notice shall identify the

market(s) to be served, which carrier will be opera ting the aircraft in the code

- share market added, and the

dat e on which the service will begin . (Such notice should be filed in this Docket.)

(d) The code

- sharing conducted under this authority must comply with Part 257 and with any

amendments to the Depa rtment’s regulations concerning code

- share arrangements that may be adopted.

Notwithstanding any provisions in the contract between the carriers, our approval here is expressly

conditioned upon the requirements that the subject foreign air transportation b e sold in the name of the

carrier holding out such service in the computer reservation systems and elsewhere; that the carrier selling

such transportation ( i.e., the carrier shown on the ticket) accept responsibility for the entirety of the

codeshare journ ey for all obligations established in its contract of carriage with the passenger; and that the

passenger liability of the operating carrier be unaffected. Further, the operating carrier shall not permit the

code of its U.S. air carrier code

- sharing partne r to be carried on any flights that enter, depart, or transit the

airspace of any area for whose airspace the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a flight

prohibition.

(e) The authority granted here is specifically conditioned so that neither Unite d nor Air China shall

give any force or effect to any contractual provisions between themselves that are contrary to these

conditions. 6

(f) The authority for Air China to display its code on flights operated by United, and the authority for

United to disp lay its code on flights operated by Air China, shall be limited to those code

- share points

which may be served under the aviation agreement between the United States and the People’s Republic

of China.

(g) We may amend, modify, or revoke the authority gra nted at any time without hearing at our discretion.

4 The conditions applicable to the United/Air China codeshare operations approved in this docket are repeated here

in their entirety for ease of reference.

5 We expect this notification to be received within 10 days of such non

- effectiveness or of such decision.

6 We note that the code

- share agreement as submitted did not include provisions regarding exclusive

dealings between the code

- share parties. Should the parties subsequently amend their code

- share

agreement o r any other agreement affecting the code

- share services to include a provision relating to an

exclusive arrangement between the parties, that amended language must first be submitted for

consideration by the Department.A ttachment C

Additional CA*/UA Code Share Markets

Houston

- Cancun

Houston

- Mexico City